Report to Members: What's Up at ASLA

To keep everyone fully informed about activities at ASLA, LAND will run these periodic updates to highlight recent actions and accomplishments by topic area.

Governance and Administration

President Tom Tavella, FASLA, recently attended the Arkansas Chapter Awards Banquet, which was held in Little Rock.

President-Elect Mark Focht, FASLA, participated in the MLA Public Lands Seminar at Temple University. Focht's panel, facilitated by Darrell Morrison, FASLA, Columbia University, focused on public land management strategies. Other participating organizations include the National Park Service, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the Wissahickon Watershed Association

President-Elect Focht also attended the Tennessee Chapter's annual meeting in Memphis, where he participated in the chapter's award presentations and presented two education sessions-one about ASLA programs and priorities, and the second as the lunch keynote address on green infrastructure.

Government Affairs VP Chad Danos, FASLA, attended the Michigan Chapter's annual meeting on September 12 in Lansing and the Indiana Chapter's annual meeting on September 20 in Carmel. Both presentations highlighted ASLA's advocacy program and provided participants with advocacy tools and techniques to become more engaged in advocating on behalf of the profession.

EVP Nancy Somerville, Hon. ASLA, and Government Affairs Managing Director Julia Lent, Hon. ASLA, attended the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Board's (CLARB) meeting last week in Minneapolis. Somerville provided an update on ASLA's programs and priorities, while CLARB shared news regarding state licensing, including new Texas requirements that require all licensees-including those from out of state-to submit to an FBI background check. CLARB is also exploring how states might incorporate the definition of welfare into landscape architecture regulation.

EVP Somerville participated in the American Planning Association's Daniel Burham Forum on Big Ideas at the National Building Museum (Washington, D.C.). The focus of the panel was "Planning Our Future." Somerville discussed issues, trends, and challenges in community design and planning, including water, resiliency, restoration, economic revitalization, and human health.

EVP Somerville won first place in the Washington Business Journal's (WBJ) Healthiest CEO Challenge. ASLA was also named one of the 50 Healthiest Employers in D.C., by the WBJ, coming in sixth in the category of businesses with fewer than 100 employees.

ASLA hosted more than 30 students and staff from Ball State University (Indiana) on Monday. The group was interested in learning more about the design and benefits of the green roof.

Government Affairs

ASLA activated the advocacy network to inform members about how the federal government shutdown could affect landscape architects.

Reminder: Take a few minutes to fill out the firstState Advocacy Priorities Survey to help chapters prepare for 2014. To ensure a robust response the deadline has been extended to Friday, October 18.ASLA staff will compile the results and provide a state-by-state breakdown of the key issues to each chapter's leadership to arm them with the tools to effectively plan for future chapter advocacy efforts. If you have questions please contact Government Affairs Managing Director Julia Lent. Click HERE to take the survey.

ASLA hosted the Potomac Chapter's Government Affairs Committee on Monday, September 23, to discuss licensure for landscape architects in the District of Columbia. Staff has learned that the D.C. Board of Architecture and Interior Design may consider a bill to regulate the profession at its upcoming October meeting. ASLA has been providing support to the Potomac Chapter since hearing that the board was interested in regulating landscape architecture in January.

The New Partners for Smart Growth Conference has approved two of ASLA's education session proposals: "The Cost of Green Infrastructure: Cheaper than We Thought," and "Putting a Price on Parks: The Economic and Health Benefits of Parks." The conference will be held in Denver February 13-15, 2014.

Landscape Architecture Magazine

The 2013 ASLA Awards fill this month's LAM, which is on its way to readers. The full slate of Student and Professional awards, along with the ASLA medals and honors, appears in this 228-page issue. Once again, ASLA is providing the list of available sources of materials and other products in the award-winning projects in a list near the back of the magazine. The whole issue is free online to everyone at Zinio, via social media, and through the magazine's website. See related "Land Matters" in this issue of LAND.

Jennifer Reut has joined as LAM's new staff writer/editor. Reut earned her PhD in architectural history at the University of Virginia, where she taught and studied with Elizabeth Meyer, FASLA. She previously worked at the American Historical Association as an editor of its magazine, Perspectives on History. Jennifer's blog, Mapping the Green Book, documents a fascinating research project for which she has received broad recognition from historian colleagues and the media.

Publishing and Resource Development

The ASLA 2013 professional and student awards were announced on Tuesday. The press release was translated into French, German, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese in order to maximize the international media impact, given that several award-winning projects are located outside the United States.

Registration for the ASLA Annual Meeting and EXPO is going strong. International registration is very strong as well, with attendees coming from Canada (110), China (27), UK (10), and Australia (5) in addition to a number of other countries. Ticket sales are also very strong. Pricing for registration and tickets will go up again on October 18, so be sure to sign up now.

A webinar was held for EXPO exhibitors, and nearly 50 exhibiting companies participated. The webinar was recorded and will be emailed out to the remaining exhibitors.

Public Relations and Communications

A press release about the 2013 Professional and Student Awards was distributed Tuesday, October 1, via several wire services. Local media in the markets with honored projects were contacted. The release has also been translated into Spanish, French, German, and Chinese and was distributed internationally. At this writing, the two sites had attracted more than 20,000 pageviews. The awards have been written about in the Austin Business Journal, Lawn & Landscape,ArchNewsNow,Planetizen. Interest also came from Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, Architects and Artisans, Austin's KLRU Central Texas Gardener TV show, and Albany Patch. In addition, Blair Kamin, architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune,tweeted about Crown Sky Garden at Lurie Children's Hospital earning an Honor Award in the General Design Category.

A statement about the federal government shutdown was posted on the ASLA website and released to media yesterday. Planetizen included part of it in an article about cities that would be harmed the most by the shutdown.

PR and Communications Coordinator Phil Stamper attended the National Building Museum'sBig Build Festival on September 21 to introduce children to landscape architecture. Stamper also took to the streets for PARK(ing) Day on September 20, visiting 11 of the 25-30 booths from D.C. organizations, including many firms representing the ASLA Potomac Chapter. Pictures of the pop-up parks can be seen here.

Professional Practice

The PPN Online Learning program presented five webinars in September. Each offered professional development hours through LA CES and were hosted by the Water Conservation, Children's Outdoor Environments, Healthcare & Therapeutic Design, and Campus Planning & Design PPNs. Attendance ranged from 41 to 68 attendees. In early October, four of the presentations will be added to the growing list of available recordings on the PPN Online Learning web page.

Education Programs

The Committee on Education sent the second annual fall program survey to the accredited programs of landscape architecture this week. The purpose of the survey is to present an overview of the current status of landscape architecture education to help inform ASLA.